I Love You, Too
by AnimeQueen1260
Summary: Rasa mourns the death of his partner, Lima, after she's shot and killed on the night of her birthday. On one particular day, the mailman delivers a special package that might change their future forever.


**I actually wanted to have this posted around Valentine's Day, but this is close enough, right? This one-shot is something I thought of while still planning to update my stories, which also includes adding new ones. Now, this one-shot might seem a little… out of order, but that's because I wrote this in a weird way. I started with the letter and the three-part message first, then a bit of the beginning, then some of the end, and the rest came spontaneously. So, I hope this story is enjoyed. BTW, I couldn't think of a title for this to save my life.**

* * *

_**9 December 2013**_

_**7:13 pm**_

He remembers it all, from when she was shot in her chest—twice—to when she fell into his arms, bleeding out and taking sharp breaths. He didn't know whether he should've dropped her to chase after the gunner or to call the ambulance; he just couldn't leave her alone too long. And with the other dancers having been left, they were alone. His mind was in overdrive and his limbs were irresponsive.

"Rasa," he remembers his partner calling his name as she lay in his arms. "Call… for help…"

However he responded, the paramedics were there within minutes, taking the brunette away. Rasa immediately approached his car and followed them as they took Lima to the closest hospital. As they made it inside, they took her into the ICU while Rasa waited in the waiting room. He didn't know what to think as he knew that she had a high chance of not making it.

The doctor came out three hours later.

The good news: she survived the procedure and was currently resting. The bad news: she probably wouldn't wake up again. Knowing that, Rasa wanted to see his partner, for this might be his last time.

He entered the room quietly, as if he would wake her up if he wasn't. Lima was hooked up to many machines, virtually fighting to stay alive. And the sight of her tore a piece away from him. Rasa pulled up a chair and sat beside the bed, holding the brunette's weak hand.

"Why did this even happen to you," he asked, more to himself. "What have you ever done to deserve this…?" The black-haired male turned to the files on the table beside the bed and read the report. '_Full metal jacket bullets… they pierced right through her skin and came out of her back. If I was right behind her, why wasn't I hit as well? Lima, why are you the only one suffering?_'

Rasa checked his watch; it was currently 8:58 pm. As his day was coming to a close, he needed to securely lock the headquarters of Dance Central Intelligence and make his way home. He sat the files down and stood up, all without letting go of his partner's hand. And he faintly smiled as he felt a light squeeze on his hand; Lima was conscious and was aware of his presence.

"Don't worry, Lima. You'll be fine. At least I hope so…"

That was three months ago.

...

_**9 March 2014**_

_**Rasa's**__** Apartment**_

_**8:14 am**_

Rasa was on his back, looking at the ceiling of his room as he lay on his bed. He was restless, having not slept for the past four days. It was hollow and empty now without having Lima there, coming in his room to tell him about some random fact he didn't know. Usually, she would lead him to the kitchen afterwards to have him taste one of her breakfast creations and they would head to work together. It wouldn't be like that today, nor has it been like that for the last few months. Rasa's mornings were often dull and pedestrian. He'd wake up, take a quick shower, and make some cereal if he had time. If not, he'd just get some quick breakfast from a fast-food restaurant and go somewhere. He couldn't go to the DCI HQ; it was in the process of relocating after hearing a random stranger managed to break in.

Today, Rasa stayed in his bed for a longer time than usual. He didn't want to go to the park and he didn't want to visit the other crews. He just wanted to stay home and create something. Something like a watch or a toaster, just as long as it helped him clear his mind. And just as he was about to do something more productive than lay in bed all day, a knock came at the front door. It was soft a soft knock, but it was loud enough for him to hear it.

Rasa rolled out of bed and staggered over to the door. He was exhausted and groggy but he couldn't force himself to sleep, and the bright light from outside didn't help his case as he opened the door. The mailman greeted him with a warm smile.

"Would you happen to be Roscoe Wilson?"

The black-haired male rubbed his eyes before blinking at the male. He hadn't been called that name in years.

"That would be me. I'm the only Roscoe Wilson that lives in this area at this apartment." His response made the mailman smile more.

"Here, I have some mail for you." And he handed him a box. "I've been trying to deliver this here for the past three months at this exact time, but you were always gone. I would've just left it at the front door for you, but I was told this was very important mail. Well, I'll see you again once you have some more mail."

The mailman walked off, leaving Rasa confused. Not only had he been tired, but now he was hungry and had a headache. Upon looking at the sender, none of that became important.

"… Alena Nixon… Lima?!"

The door slammed and the male agent was at the dining room table, opening the package with the pocket knife that was on the table. Its contents contained a Walkman cassette player, three cassettes, and a letter. The black-haired male grabbed the letter first. He recognized the hand-writing as Lima's, coming from her left hand. She was ambidextrous, but her left and right hand had different fonts.

_14/12/13_

_Hey Rasa,_

_If you're reading this letter, it means that I'm either dead or dying._

He shook his head after reading that first sentence. Lima _really_ had a way with words…

_And if you're reading this, that also means we've been at a stalemate for a long time. You know, I think it's really funny how the all-knowing leader of Dance Central Intelligence is oblivious to the things that happen right in front of his eyes, despite how obvious and noticeable they are._

He couldn't help but think what she was talking about in that part of the letter. Did he miss something he shouldn't have?

_However, this letter wasn't made for the purpose for exploiting my rather embarrassing feelings for you; the recordings were. I urge you to listen to them, in order, so that you can hear my final message to you. And, hopefully, we'll be able to see each other soon._

_My best regards,_

_Lima~_

_P.S.- The recordings and this letter have been edited due to recent events._

She signed her name at the bottom, as if it were a professional letter. After reading that, Rasa became interested in what her final message was. And that's when he noticed it was on cassettes; how like her. He grabbed the Walkman player and entered the first cassette in before pushing in the play button.

It was silent for a while before he heard Lima's voice. She didn't give an introduction, or a brief statement, and just started out with what she wanted to say.

"_Honestly, do you even care about me…? Well, __**did**__ you care about me, seeing as how I'm currently dead?"_

Rasa paused the recording right there, letting his ex-partner's words sink in. That's what she meant in her letter to him. He was unable to think now, but he knew he cared about Lima—he was sure of it. But to what extent…? With a sigh, he continued the recording.

"_It was always only business with you, and I found myself slowly adapting to your ways. For what, though? A wasted attempt at making the feelings I had for you mutual. No matter how much time we spent together, I always felt as if you regarded me as nothing more than a colleague…" _He heard her sigh before she continued. _"Oh well, because at the end of the day, I'll never know how you really feel. It's way too late for that… correction, it's __**been**__ way too late. One question: Have you ever thought about me?"_

The black-haired male waited for more of the brunette's voice, only for nothing else to come; the first recording was over. He thought for it to be rather short, but then remembered that it was Lima who sent him this. If he knew her as well as he thought, the second recording would be the longest. With that, he ejected the first cassette and entered the second, closing the door for it and pushing the PLAY button.

It took a few seconds to start up, just like the last. _"Who was the first person on your mind when you woke up every morning and who was the last person you thought of before you went to sleep? Was it yourself? One of the dancers? __**Me?!**__ Such a stupid question, I know, but it has a larger-than-life meaning to me. Answering that question would let others know who the most important person is to you. I bet you can guess who the most important person to me is; the first person I thought of every morning and the last person on my mind every night? Do I even have to say your name…?" _A long silence pause went by before she started up again with light chuckles. _"After all this time, my feelings for you still haven't changed one bit. It's so… __**crazy**__ now thinking about it because even though I __**honestly**__ believed you didn't care about me in the same way I cared about you, I just couldn't bring myself to remember to forget about it. Now, the word 'it' is very broad. 'It' could be, in the sense I used it in, my feelings for you, my assumptions of how I felt you saw me, or just you, in general. The most shocking thing is that I can't choose between the three. Funny, isn't it?" _Lima stopped again, making Rasa believe she was done. Before he took it out, she started up again. _"Love is so confusing, and I think everyone can agree with me when I say that. One second, it's the best feeling in the world. Let something wonderful happen and you feel as if you're at the top of the world. No one can tell you otherwise and it feels as if you could jump and take flight! But, let one wrong thing occur and it collapses all on you, turning into… what? Regret? Sorrow? Maybe depression? I'll tell you how I felt when that 'one wrong thing' happened. Remorseful, because I couldn't say the things I wanted to. Unimportant, because you constantly looked through me. Ashamed, because I expected more from __**the both of us. **__The biggest feeling I felt wasn't from those three, however; it was devastation. Because I found out it wasn't as I hoped it would be. Have you ever been remorseful or ashamed of something? Have you ever felt unimportant or devastated because of someone?" _Rasa wouldn't dare pause it again because he needed to listen to the entire second part of her final message. Lima sniffled and took a deep breath before continuing. _"I lost my train of thought… oh, that's right. I'm sure __**you**__, of all people, wouldn't have ever felt that way before. No, not __**you**__!" _The male agent arched his brow at her tone. While sounding sarcastic, she also sounded angry. _"__**You**__ never have to worry about those things, and __**you**__ live such a perfect life! Tell me, how is it to __**only**__ worry about business affairs?! That's all you ever seemed to care about; whether or not DCI had enough finances to afford this stupid thing or how we were supposed to do this and that. You never cared about the well-being of the others, especially me." _Lima chuckled. _"I bet I gave you a reason to think about me now. Am I wrong?"_

This time, Rasa heard the fumbling of the cassette before there wasn't any audio coming from the cassette player. He wanted to say something, in hopes that she'd hear him, but he knew it would be futile because she'd never hear him again. And he mustered enough willpower to stop him from commenting and from crying. He took out the second cassette and entered the third one.

"_I can't stay talking for too long. I'm not sure how I've managed to stay talking this long, but I've gotten mostly everything out. Won't you just listen to my last message before I lose my voice?" _Rasa hadn't noticed it before, but Lima's voice was scratchy and hoarse. _"I know you well enough to know that you're listening to this, and I want to tell you that…" _She trailed off and started a new topic. _"I hope you're doing better than I am. Hearing these machines while on my deathbed isn't the most pleasant thing right now. And yes, I meant __**deathbed**__. I'm sure the doctors did everything they could've, and I'm lucky to even be conscious and talking right now, but it's getting harder for me to breathe as time passes by. Maybe I'm just overreacting and everything will be fine, but if not… this'll have to suffice, though I wish we were face-to-face and engaged in conversation, because I'm sure this is a monologue on your part." _Rasa could hear his ex-partner take a sharp breath, similar to the one she took when she had been shot. _"My eyelids are so heavy right now… I could just close them, but I may… never open then again. I want to tell you everything before they force themselves to close, despite my efforts to keep them open. I enjoyed you keeping me company at the hospital while I was unconscious, and I'm sorry we had to finish my birthday off with such a horrible ending. Well, this is my final message to you. I love you, Rasa. Goodbye now…"_

A click and the recording ended. The male agent realized how Lima never mentioned his name until the end, though she made it fairly obvious she was talking to him. With the new information coming in all at once, it was hard for him to believe it. And now as he thought about it, he had to be the dumbest guy in the world. How could he not have known that his partner liked—no, _loved_ him?! He wasn't sure of how he _used to_ feel about her, but he was confident in how he felt now.

Before Rasa headed to the bathroom, he noticed something else in the box. A picture of them. The caption read 'My Best Memory' and his eyes watered as he looked at the picture. It was a picture of them ballroom dancing from years ago, when they were training DCI's new recruits on all forms of dancing. Specifically, it was a picture of when he dipped her down. He remembers that day clearly; that was the first—and last—time they kissed. When they came back up, Lima excused herself, heading to the bathroom while failing to hide her smile. And Rasa… he watched her leave with a smile of his own. Remembering that day jolted his body and he quickly made his way to the bathroom.

He fixed himself up, taking a long shower to temporarily relieve him of his exhaustion and then prepared something quick to eat. He was out of his apartment within forty-five minutes, after equipping himself with a few things, and then headed to the main headquarters of Dance Central Intelligence. He was going to use the time machine to save Lima.

...

_**9 December 2013**_

_**Dance Central Intelligence Headquarters**_

_**7:12 pm**_

"Hey," the still-living Lima greeted the past Rasa. She walked over to him and they engaged in conversation. They were so engrossed in what they were talking about that they didn't hear the noise the time machine made as future Rasa came from it. Seeing his younger self laughing at something Lima told him made him realize at what point of time he was at; that was just seconds before they heard the elevator. He widened his eyes after seeing them both stand up and ran over to them.

The elevator doors opened and a person dressed in black appeared, holding a silver gun. From where he was, the older Rasa was able to see what exactly happened. The first bullet was aimed directly at Lima. He pulled her back just in time and took the shot himself. Though confused, the gunner aimed the gun at the past Rasa and pulled the trigger. Future Rasa was able to shield his younger self from the bullet, essentially taking both bullets. As he fell to the ground, the past Rasa chased after the gunner, leaving Lima and his older self alone.

"R—Rasa?! What's going on?! Why are there two of you?! And… why did you do that?"

The brunette crawled over to him and looked at his chest. There were two bullet holes without blood coming from it. She opened his jacket to see him wearing a bulletproof vest—she wasn't able to see the other four he wore—and grew wide mouthed.

He chuckled at her reaction. "I couldn't let you die, not again. I wanted to tell you that you were wrong."

"About what," she asked, though fighting not to cry. He dug inside his jacket pocket and pulled out the Walkman cassette player she left for him.

"About this." She looked more shocked than before, if even possible, as she recognized the player.

"Who gave that—where did you—how did you—elaborate!"

And he laughed again at her reaction. "This was a part of the box you sent me, though I'm sure you wouldn't know. You were shot by these full metal jacket bullets and… died. But since I saved you, that never happened. So I guess the audio would be a bit different now, but that doesn't matter now. You know what does?"

She shook her head. "No, what?"

Rasa sat up and cupped her face. "The fact that you were wrong for once. I love you too, Lima." With that, he brought her face closer to his before connecting their lips. And all of their problems seemed to vanish after that.

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**I feel as if certain parts of this story had been rushed. I was mainly focused on Lima's letter and three-part message that I didn't care about anything else too much. Oh well, at least I was able to get the main point across, right?**

**I never really planned on mentioning what exactly happened with younger Rasa at the end, so I figured I'd do it now. Let's see... to make this short and sweet, he chases down the gunner, finds it to be Kerith, gets information from him, goes back to the DCI HQ with Lima and his older self, informs them about what he figured out, gets the Glitterati twins arrested, and then disappears (though when time traveling, the older version of the person is the one to usually leave...). Well, now I'm really tired. Thank you FanFiction for making me want to publish stories and read others. -_-**


End file.
